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Arell L'amour . . . what to say about a guy who is my first original character, and by far a colorful man in most senses of the word. An anti-hero who is more or less . . . a serial killer . . . killer. The hardcore Batman fans (one in particular) learned not to like Arell's readiness to take down los hombres malos with firearms or his rather abrasive nature, but his heart is in . . . more or less the right place. In this entry, I'm going to take you on a journey into Arell's head. What makes a man who he is. Why he crosses even the boundaries most "heroes" in a comic book RP would draw in the sand.

Most superhero protagonists have a sort of power or gadget that allows them to stand above and beyond a common man. Popular examples of this include Iron Man's suit . . . without which, Tony Stark is Tony Stark, or The Flash's speed. Arell . . . has neither. While he has the ability to turn into a were-gator, he refuses to do it in fear of hurting actual innocents. A gun, one can aim . . . many arguably with one hand (which, as a man who supports the second amendment, I highly suggest use two). A gigantic killing machine with fangs, claws and muscle ready to kill anything in his path, be it friend or foe, is a lot harder to control. Therefore, Arell prefers not to USE his "power". While his view upon killing is rather loose, as I will go back to later, he fights to not only stop crime, but end it permanently.

Like I mentioned before, what makes superheroes like Captain America, Batman, Superman, and Spiderman so accepted is that they do not kill. While I personally find it admirable that crime on paper can be ended nonviolently, that is not the case. There are some real wicked people in the world, many of them do (or did) things that are so despicable that some people, in Arell's mind, should NOT be able to go free, however he hopes NOT to have to go that far. If the courts should fail, should the "capes" fail, should s**t hit the fan, when the bad dude absolutely, positively needs to be taken out RIGHT THEN AND THERE, if the heroes he aligned himself with don't intervene, that duty is Arell's . . . and the use of firearms is being merciful. An alligator doesn't have a preference to good or evil . . . food is food.

Continuing on Arell's use of firearms, I feel the need to remind folks that he is NOT to be used as a political tool for gun ownership laws. In real life, I'm a pacifist, but I believe in reason. L'amour will not use any firearm that the average Joe cannot get legally, and firearms that do not fall into that category will not be used. While not affiliated with any group of heroes and technically in their eyes a "civilian", this rather opens things back to how Arell is who he is.

A great comparison was given to me about Arell's character. While I have made allusions to other great heroes from the silver screen (Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name", Chris Adams from "The Magnificent Seven", and Crocodile Dundee were definitely influential in him being who he is), a friend compared him to Jack Burton, the trucker from "Big Trouble in Little China." Like Burton, Arell is a brave guy who's just thrown into a situation.

That's kind of what bothers me about Batman. Sure, Bats is a comic book legend, Justice League, blah blah blah, but where's the HUMAN? Bats is a one percent, multi-gazillionaire who just does this whole crime-fighting thing for a hobby. He's confronted the guy who killed his parents many times in the course of Batman's long run in the comics, so it's obviously not revenge why he does it. There's a need for a connection to all people. There's a reason why I didn't start off Arell as a multimillionaire with a mansion and gadgets at his disposal. At least many of Bats' contemporaries had connections to more of the common folk, like Superman's alter-ego Clark Kent being raised in Kansas by farmers, or the X-men just having powers but having to deal with being people. Hell, John McClain from "Die Hard" has his issues, lives in an apartment and deals with what he has. If Arell was given all that money or power, maybe he'd be different, but he's the everyman, like McClain, Barton, the McManus Brothers from the "Boondock Saints" . . . the guy even dudes who work at a dead-end job at a gas station has the potential to become.

Arell's background also brings up to mind. Being a Bank Robber goes back to the legends of Robin Hood and Jesse James robbing the rich and giving to those who need it. When Arell became a bank robber, he was in dire straits. Bank about to foreclose on his family's home, mom and dad having medical bills, and also those banks had connections to the Mafia. He fought the corrupt.

The concepts of "good" and "evil" are often blurred, and Arell, this former Hell's Angel, bank-robber, vigilante and mercenary represents that. This is also from Hollywood . . . or much more accurately, the Italian Westerns directed by Sergio Leone. Arguably, Arell's stories may as well be called "Once Upon a Time In the South." While I could have easily given Arell a Gene Autry/Roy Rogers persona of lawful, wholesome good, unless done right, leads to a rather bland character nobody can really relate to. On the other hand, not all villains wear black, have handlebar mustaches and tie damsels to railroad tracks. Some are running guns, others the country. Arell's tendency to break the rules contemporary "supers" adhere to is Arell being who he is. In a way, he's not a super, but would arguably be a great character in a Contemporary Western.

As for Arell's Cajun background, this one I'm really protective of. Cajuns often are the Southern culture that gets wiped into the "redneck" stereotype. While I'm a fan of Southern humor, from Twain to modern comedians like Jeff Foxworthy, Arell does NOT fit most of the Foxworthy redneck jokes. While he's proud of being Cajun, dresses like a modern biker/cowboy hybrid and has an accent thicker than Tupelo Honey, there are just as many smart people from Southern states (probably more so) than dumb people who fit those stereotypes. In regards to Arell's eye: while he didn't exactly help install it, he and Dundee (the braniac bonehead who will receive a similar sheet to this on a later date) designed the eye. However, many brilliant minds come from the Southern half of the United States (many in Cajun and Creole Country as well) in real life.

All in all, I suppose that writing this will probably not make too much of a dent in things, but I just wanted to write all this down, so that people who see Arell in a story, a roleplay, or maybe one day a movie . . . I just want you to look into why Arell is who he is, why I made him who he is, and have a little more understanding when the Big Cajun does something not-superhero-like.